Stargate: Triangulum
by Dave19941000
Summary: With the discovery of a new trans-galactic gate coordinate, Star Gate Command forms a new expedition to the Triangulum Galaxy. But where the Ancients went trouble always followed, and the Triangulum Expedition finds themselves unlike any the Milky Way or Pegasus galaxy had to offer.
1. Toris

**October 23****rd****, 2015**

**Atlantis, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean**

**Laboratory 37**

Interesting, that had been what Woolsey had been told. Something 'interesting' had been found while searching some database that hadn't yet been cracked open, and it seemed to demand his attention. He was mildly surprised, due to the fact that there wasn't a hint of panic in the message he had received and nothing had blown up. Yet. Usually by now a section or all of Atlantis was locked down because of something being released into the air, or someone needed immediate medical attention or some other problem which required his attention.

The fact that he had reached the lab without a single alarm going off was enough to garner his curiosity.

Entering the lab, he was surprised at how empty it was of Earth made equipment. While most labs had half dozen computers, this one only had a single laptop hooked up to the local database. What it was missing in Earth tech, it more than made up in books though. Hundreds of them, old, new and somewhere in between, stacked in piles that reached well above the hip. The only thing greeting him other than the piles of book where three people who were digging through the database.

"Doctor Jackson, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Daniel looked up from the laptop at the question.

"Oh, Richard, hey. Didn't hear you come in."

"Yes well I tend to be quieter when I get a call from you and the city isn't in danger." Woolsey stated. "So what did you find that made you think making me come half way across the city before I was done my morning coffee?"

"Oh, yes." Daniel walked away from the laptop and towards one of the far off piles of books. The two assistances didn't say a word, both fearful in Woolsey's presence. Daniel picked up a book around the middle of a pile, half way between his knee and the ground. Opening it, he turned around towards Woolsey. "One of the texts from P8X-737 we traded for referenced ancient benevolent gods who took human form. Now no guesses as to who they are since the world wasn't a protected planet which pretty much limits the possibilities to the ancients. The texts also referenced a-a city of crystal overlooking the old capital from its center lake. Now at first the gods amongst men were said to be pleased with their people, helping them with the harvest and healing the sick, but eventually conflict, division and eventually war came to the capital and the gods ascended with their city and the chosen few from the capital below. Now the capital seemed to have once housed a few million, but when we visited it a few years ago there couldn't be more than a few thousand…"

"Doctor, is there a point because I have other work to do." Woolsey interrupted.

"Yeah, sorry. Anyway I cross-referenced the name they called the ancient crystal city with the latest database McKay managed to unlock here and I found this." He moved to the laptop and spent a few moments typing. The screen behind him changed from random ancient letters to seven symbols.

"Daniel, is that…" Woolsey started before being cut off.

"Yes, it's a gate address to another ancient city-ship."

"And where exactly does this address lead?" Woolsey inquired.

"The Triangulum galaxy."

**Stargate: Triangulum**

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain**

**Gate room**

**November 14****th****, 2015**

As he walked before the gate, Doctor Schmitt felt nervous. Usually when he spoke in front of a group it had usually been to students or his fellow scientists, but now he had a group that was predominantly neither, or at least not the scientists of his field.

"You are all the best of the best." The doctor started. "You stand here today because you are the pinnacle of what it means to be human, the shining examples of vat it means to be in your field. After two decades of exploration we have discovered technology, history, cultures and the like that we have only begun to scratch the surface of. Today, we continue this legacy by going out into the unknown once more."

He paused to let his words sink in while also catching his breath.

"We do not know what we will find on the other side. It could be a peaceful paradise that makes the Garden of Eden look like a slum; there could be a wasteland with nightmares which make the Wraith look like a pleasant memory. We do not know, and we are here to find out. I shall not lie though, the moment you walk through the gate is a point of no return. This mission will, for the foreseeable future, be alone in the night. With our fleet's responsibilities around the galaxy, along with the ongoing wars with the Wraith and the Cyrannus system we do not know when, or even if, reinforcements will ever come. We will be as much a colony to continue out people's survival as an outpost. If you do not wish to come with us, now is the time to leave. No one will think less of you for it. We could be disconnected not only for months or years, but in perpetuity."

There was a long silence, only broken by someone in the back of the group speaking up.

"Doc, I think everyone here already knows the odds and has accepted the risks."

Schmitt nodded with a slight grin.

"Alright, begin dialing sequence."

The gate room started to vibrate slightly as the gate started to activate. In the dialing room Director O'neill kept watch with Jackson by his side.

"You know if I just…"

"No Daniel."

"But Jack…."

"I said no when it was Atlantis, it stays no now."

"But we aren't dealing with the Ori anymore, and we can handle what we're fighting now without me needing to find something to make them go away."

Jack turned towards Daniel. "Daniel, this is a young man's game, and despite what I like to tell myself neither I nor you are the men we were when we walked through that gate to Abydos. You're needed in Atlantis to sift through the databases they've got there. That's the best place for a man with your abilities to be, not some far flung outpost in a galaxy we've not only never set foot in, but for all we know no human has."

Daniel sighed as the eighth chevron locked.

"So our days of adventuring are over is what you're saying."

"They've been over for a while. When was the last time you left the system?"

A moment after the whoosh from the gate subsided, the first MALP advanced, traveling through the wormhole to a distant galaxy. The image came up a few moments later, showing what appeared to be a gate room much like that of Atlantis. Unlike the one they had seen all those years ago, however, there was much more light which seemed to be coming from the large glass-like windows that where typical of a city-ship. With the atmospheric data coming back positive for habitability and everything looking clear, Jack gave a thumb up to the doctor on the ramp.

"Alright men, it's now or never." Major Lee, the man responsible for the company of soldiers going along with the expedition, stated. "Triangulum expedition, move out!"

With that Lee and the three members of what had been pre-emptively been made the first Triangulum stargate team, or SGT-1, moved through the gate, weapons at the ready. A few moments later they radioed in with 'clear'.

Without a word, Schmitt walked through the gate, followed by several others, then another MALP. Slowly but surely the company of soldiers, the hundreds of scientists and engineers, numbering just over a thousand in all, as well as a half dozen MALPs with as many crates of supplies and equipment as they could carry traveled to the distant galaxy.

By the time the last man passed across the event horizon, Jack was standing in front of the gate with a parting gift.

"_We are all through, you may close the gate." _Schmitt's voice said over the radio.

**Ancient city of Toris**

**Triangulum Galaxy**

A moment before the gate closed a bottle was rolled through. Walking up to collect it, Schmitt smiled as the large bottle had a tag wishing the expedition good luck. Unfortunately despite its size it wouldn't be enough to give everyone a fair amount, but the sentiment still remained.

"Alright everyone spread out and see what we can learn of our new home. I don't want you to activate more then we need to though. We want the lights to be on, not for a ten thousand year old experiment to go on a rampage." There were a few laughs but everyone was well aware of the risks involved with ancient technology. "And someone get a good look outside, I'd like to know just what type of world we've come to."

The expedition split up into predetermined groups. Around fifty stayed in the gate room to get the long dormant systems back online or to offload the MALPs. The rest broke up into groups of around a dozen, each with a mix of a couple of soldiers with the scientists and engineers. One group went up while the rest descended into the city below.

Lee, who had stayed in the gate room, walked out onto the balcony which overlooked the city beyond. The place was indeed identical to Atlantis, but there was something off about it. At first Lee wondered what the odd feeling was, but when he looked out beyond he realized what the feeling was. Humans seemed to have a sixth sense for bad omens.

"Lee to all teams, be on alert. This place has locals. I see a bridge connecting the city to the mainland, seems to be made of wood. There's a village off in the distance, can't make out much but there's light coming from it, probably fires."

"_Uh, sir, this is team three. We're in the main jumper bay and there's nothing here. Like, at all. No jumpers, no control panels, no nothing. Just a big piece of glass above a big floor of flat nothing."_

"Shit." Lee cursed to himself. The reason no jumpers had been brought was because it was assumed there would be a few on the other side. With the new information Lee prayed they wouldn't need to go on too many adventures threw the gate. Six MALPs went by fast at the SGC, and if they same logic for gate seeding was used in this galaxy as the Pegasus the rate would be even faster due to the odd tendency to plant them in orbit instead of on a planet.

As the hours ticked away more and more areas where brought back to life, the expedition found that for the most part everything they expected to find was there apart from the jumpers, but there were things they hadn't expected. On the path to the wooden bridge where tarps and signs with odd symbols, their message, if there was one, meaningless to the members of the expedition who could not understand them.

It was pre-dawn with the sun just over the horizon of mountains off to the west of the city. With the main arteries of travel in the city secured a squad of soldiers had been posted at the bridge, the rest of the expedition either setting up base in the main tower or doing a room by room search from the center going outward. A complete search was expected to take three or four days, or Earth days if the length was different on this world.

"Hey Serge, if all we got out there is a bunch of primitives living in huts why bother defending this bridge when we can blow it?" One of the infantry looking out towards the mainland asked.

"Because primitive or not they could be a potential ally. I don't know about you but if we start to run low on MREs I'd be more comfortable knowing we had a safe source of food." The staff sergeant replied. "Now get back to…"

The sergeant stopped as he instinctively took his weapon and pointed it towards open corridor they had originally come from. The other soldiers did the same, save two on the bridge who kept an eye out in case someone chose that moment to come from the mainland.

"Come out with your hands in the air." The staff sergeant ordered. There were a few moments of silence. "We know you're there, don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

After a long moment a pair of hands appeared from behind the open door, followed by another. The two pairs then moved into the opening, revealing a pair of teens, one a boy one a girl.

"D-don't hurt us, we were just playing around is all." The girl stuttered. "W-we know we aren't supposed to be here."

"Please, let her go." The boy spoke up. "I'm the one who convinced her to come here, it's my fault. If the ancestors want to punish anyone, it should be me."

The staff sergeant laughed when he realized what had happened, lowering his weapons. "Looks like we've got a couple of lovebirds who like to break the rules, boys."

The staff sergeant walked up to the two. "Kid, what's your name?"

"I am Damian, and this is Marits." The boy replied.

"Well Damian and Marits, I'm Staff Sergeant Simons. Don't worry about us; we aren't some divine retribution or anything." Simons explained. He took his radio. "Simons to Lee, we got two locals here at the bridge. Couple of teens breaking some no-entry rule the locals seem to have. What should I do with them?"

"_Keep them there; I'm on my way with SGT-1."_

"Understood."

There were a few moments of silence before Marits spoke. "So, uh, are we in trouble?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on how your parents feel when they find you going home with people from the Tau'ri."

"What's a Tau'ri?" Damian asked.

"It means 'first', it's who we are, the first humans. Humanity started on our world." Simons explained. He wasn't used to interacting with offworlders.

"I… see." Damian replied, not seeming to understand the concept. A few minutes went by of idle chitchat before Lee and SGT-1 arrived.

"Sergeant."

"Major."

"Situation report."

"Unchanged since my call."

"Alright. And these are?"

"This is Damian and Marits." Simons said, pointing to the two teenagers. "Damian, Marits, this is Major Lee."

"Hi." Marits said.

Lee took Simons aside to keep the two out of earshot. "What's this world look like with these two?"

"Well sir it seems to be ancient worshippers. Other than that I wouldn't hazard a guess."

"I see." Lee looked at the two teens. "You two, you live in the nearby village?"

"Uh sir mister." Marits answered.

"Alright, and if we were to, say, bring you two back there, how would you think your people would react?"

"Well father would probably be furious that Damian and I spent the night here in the Forbidden City."

"I was more talking about how they'd react to us." Lee clarified.

"Oh, well then they'd probably going to be happy that you aren't here to smite us. After all it is foretold that the ancestors would return."

"Alright, well we can't pose as deities due to regs, but it sounds better than being chased off the planet by people who think we're demons."

**Toralan village**

**An hour later**

The trek to the village had taken longer than expected. While the muddy road was no trouble for the four man SG team, but for the two civilians it was a different story. They kept getting stuck in the mud, causing the time it took to travel to nearly double.

"Marits, where have you been?" A man on the outskirts of the village asked, noticing the group approaching. "You're mother has been worried to no end. Any who are these strangers who bear such odd clothing?"

"Hey your poncho isn't exactly normal where we come from buddy." One of the SG team, Williams, stated.

"Father, these people came from the Forbidden City."

"You went into the Forbidden City?" Marits's father asked loudly. "Do you have any idea what the consequences could be? These people could be here to destroy the village or…"

"Oh no, no we aren't here to hurt anyone." Lee interrupted. "I'm Major Lee of the Triangulum expedition." Lee extended his hand, which the man only looked at in confusion.

"If you are not here to smite us, then are you here to deal with the blight?" The man asked.

"Oh great, there's something here." One of the team members moaned. "Here I thought this would be a peaceful mission."

Lee loudly cleared his throat to quiet his subordinate down. "And what, exactly, are the blight?"

"You know not of the blight?"

"Yeah yeah, every kid knows about them, how do you not know, we've heard it all before. Now what is the blight, and explain it like you would to a traveler who had never heard of them."

"Well" the man cleared his throat. "The blight are death incarnate, dark creatures which come from the gate of the gods whenever one enters the Forbidden City, dragging they and several others from ours and other villages each time to their hell beyond the gate."

"So they only come when someone enters the city." Lee repeated.

"And we've been activating the systems all around the city all night." One of the team continued. "Oh shit."

As Lee radioed in, the gate started to activate.


	2. Unwelcome

The first two chevrons locked quickly on the gate, as was typical of the late model of stargate.

"_Lee to Base, Lee to Base, do not let anything through the gate!"_

"Base to first recon, we don't plan to." Schmitt replied over the radio. "Get the Iris us."

"Sir, there isn't an Iris."

"What?"

"There isn't one sir, the commands we used to activate the one in Atlantis aren't doing anything. If there was one here it isn't working." The young women explained. As the wormhole formed, the few soldiers in the gate room prepared for battle, the MALPs being used as cover. On the second level the technicians and scientists took out zats, the standard issue weapon for all personnel regardless of whether they were soldiers or not.

The room was silent and still for a long moment as all eyes watched the gate.

When it happened it was all in a moment. A creature jumped out of the gate, then another, and another. Schmitt couldn't see them how many there where, nor did he care. He, as the others, simply shot at the things.

A scream came from the lower level, one of the soldiers having his arm stabbed by one of the creatures. Another was scratched across their torso, the body armour doing nothing to protect him from the claws.

When one leaped from the lower level to the gate control area, Schmitt got a clear view of them. The thing had a vaguely humanoid built to it, but the proportions of its body where wrong. Though the creature was crouching, it was clear that had it stood upright it would be at least a full head taller than any human possibly could. Its skin was a light gray, similar to an Asgardian, and its limbs longer and thinner than those of a human. Its feet and hands where much larger than a human's, but also far less muscular, with each finger and toe possessing long sharpened nails which had greater length then the fingers themselves. What struck fear into Schmitt's mind, however, was its face. The large, black, predatory eyes which scanned the area where a depth into the abyss that horrified Schmitt like nothing he had ever seen. The creature looked at him directly in the eyes, causing him to freeze in place. Petrified, he couldn't force himself to move as the beast slowly walked towards him.

The creature stood above him, hunched over with its face closing in on his, before long being only inches from his own. Had it not been for the creature not having any visible mouth, Schmitt would have thought it was going to eat him.

That never came, as the technician who had been working with Schmitt shot it at point blank with a zat repeatedly. The first few shots did nothing, but by the fifth it started to flinch, by the eighth it started to spasm, and by the twelfth shot it was on the floor, unmoving. Schmitt found his nerves returning to him the moment the creature lost its focus on him.

"Thanks Sofia." He said as he lifted himself up, looking for another potential target.

"No problem sir." Braginskaya replied.

"Clear." One of the soldiers yelled. The pair looked over the railing to see the result of whatever it was which just happened. Down below four more of the creatures laid dead, two of the soldiers in the same position and another four seriously injured. "What the hell is this thing?"

Schmitt looked over the scene, wondering what had just happened. In all the whole ordeal had lasted less than thirty second from the first to the last shot.

"Schmitt to all units, return to the gate tower. Repeat, all units return to gate tower."

"_Lee to tower, what happened?"_

"We lost a few major; whatever came through the gate got them faster than we got them back. ETA to return?"

"_Half an hour sir."_

"Good, double time." Schmitt turned to Sofia. "Turn off the gate. I don't want more of those things coming through when they realize something's off. Then run a full system diagnostic. I find it hard to believe they'd just happen to come here after we did."

"Yes sir."

**The Next Day**

**Conference room**

One of the advantages of the standardization of ancient city ships was the fact that if you know your way around one you know your way around all. This had held true for the gate tower, which, excluding the puddle jumpers, had been almost an exact copy of Atlantis' gate tower. This meant that the holographic recording was in the same place. It had taken the better part of a day but Braginskaya had managed to set up a translation of the message.

"_Hundreds of generations ago, thousands of the best that the humans of Terra had to offer where taken in Toris to Albion. The hope was to uplift them into being the next race in the alliance, a fifth race." _The Ancient hologram explained. _"A great city sprang up around Toris, and for some time it seemed they would become the fifth race as we had hoped."_

"I'm sensing a 'butt' here." Williams interrupted.

"_However"_

"There it is."

"_Factionalism overtook the people, and over time the once great city started to decay, collapse and in a day of unbridled rage the city was finally torn apart by violence. The few of them who remained enlightened where taken with us in Toris to this galaxy, Avalon becoming unsuitable due to the rise of a parasitic race."_

"Wait, so the Goa'uld built their empire under the Ancient's nose?"

"Shut up Williams." Lee ordered.

"_With the need for a new world to set our operations in we chose the Triangulum galaxy. It seemed like a safe course of action, the home galaxy of the Furlings gave us a large area to choose from without fear of interference by space capable races, with massive area to expand."_

"When was this?" Schmitt asked the hologram.

"_Twenty thousand, one hundred sixty three of your years ago."_ It replied.

"Excuse me miss…" Williams started, trying to figure out what to call it.

"_I have no name."_

"Alright, well miss hologram, what exactly was the purpose of the experiment you did here?"

"_That data is corrupted."_

"Let me guess, the data about what happened to the puddle jumpers is also corrupted?"

"_What is a puddle jumper?"_

"That's not important right now." Sofia interrupted. "What's important is what those things where that attacked us, and why they attacked us."

"_The Blight. They were an attempt by the Furlings to save the Asgard from genetic degradation. At the time the Asgard did not consider the issue a serious problem, so the Furlings took it upon themselves to solve it in their place." _The hologram explained, showing an image of one of the beasts. _"The project failed seventeen thousand, two hundred and five years ago. The failure stemmed from two factors: the inability to produce sapient results more than one point three percent of the time, and hostility from the one point three percent which where sapient."_

"That thing was an Asgard?" Lee asked in shock.

"_An attempt to repair the Asgard genetic code."_

"Sir, I think that's enough for today. Generator's starting to get empty." Sofia informed the two leaders.

Schmitt nodded, signaling her to cut off the power from the two semi-portable arc reactors. With that the hologram disappeared.

"Major, how would you deem this threat?" Schmitt asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"I can't make a call. We only know they know this gate address, and it currently disabled the only way they can attack is with ships." Lee replied. "They're a wild card. Are they as advanced as the Ancients or Asgard? Are they gatebount like we were all those years ago? These are known unknowns we can't plan around."

Schmitt nodded his head. "I see. All of you get back to helping set things up. Compile a list of questions for the interface for the next time we activate it. Lee, I'm taking a fireteam with me to the village."

"I don't see a problem with that."

"Alright, dismissed."

As the meeting came to an end and the personnel left Schmitt signaled for Lee to wait. When the two where alone he spoke up.

"Give it to me straight major, do we need to call home and beg for help? One data burst through the gate and they could have five 304s in orbit by the end of the month."

"Wait, but what you said before we left…"

"Bullshit. Even with the council ordering five ships remain in Earth orbit at all times and Task Force Hammond exterminating the Wraith that still leaves most of the fleet free for command to do with as they please. Did you really think they can't spare one or two of the big guns?"

Lee sat himself across from the man.

"So if they could spare a ship, why didn't they send one?"

"For all we know they have, but as it stands this mission isn't worth the resources needed for one to be issued to us. Not on a permanent basis anyway."

"And way wasn't I told of this before we left?" Lee was able to hide his irritation, though not well enough for Schmitt to miss it.

"It was deemed need to know. Plus having everyone think we were being sent all alone in the night would help only keep those willing to take the risks involved."

"I see." Lee knew that the conversation was over, and left the room.

**ZPM room**

With a loud grunt Williams let down the last portable reactor. The fourth generation naquadah generator, known as the arc reactor, was no ZPM, but with the half dozen in the room the city would have everything but its engines returning to life.

"Thank you for your help Lieutenant Williams." Sofia said as she started to link up the power generators to the city.

"No problem, it was either this or help the set up the hydroponics. I came here to get AWAY from the farm." He replied, taking a moment to catch his breath. "And call me Matthew, you're not military and calling me by my last name makes me thing I'm older then I should feel."

"I suppose it's fair, no one uses my last name either. Though I have the feeling it has nothing to do with my being a civilian." Matthew laughed at the comment.

"Well it's not exactly the easiest for us to saw." He admitted with a laugh. "How does it go again?"

"Braginskaya. People always mistake it for Russian."

"No offense but if it wasn't for that blue and yellow patch I'd think it was Russian too."

"None taken, I'd think you were a Yankee if it wasn't for the leaf on your shoulder."

The two had a quick laugh at the exchange. Matthew went to work helping her set up the power generators.

"So after this you want to get a coffee? The mess should be up and running by now."

"Eh, why not? This should be just about…" With one last cable being connected the light in the room became noticeably brighter. "Done."

**Medical bay**

**Gate tower**

"Did the lights just get brighter?" Johnson asked aloud.

"Probably just the generators being brought online. Get back to work." Doctor Haida ordered. The doctor was in the middle of dissecting one of the creatures which had come through the gate, but with the rest of his staff taking care of the injured he needed the technician to help. "Clamps."

"Ok, clamps… clamps…" Johnson said to himself as he looked at the different medical tools.

"It's the ones that look like scissors that won't cut things." Doctor Haida replied.

"Right, right."

**Toralan village**

"Ah travelers from the gate, you return I see." One of the villagers stated as the five man team entered the area. "How many did the beasts take?"

"We lost two men, but we got all of them for it." One of the soldiers replied.

"You killed the Blight?" The villager asked in shock.

"All five that came through."

"Settle down." Schmitt ordered. "I'm here to talk to your leader; can you take me to him?"

"Yes, he's just this way." The walk to one of the houses was short but much more pleasant than the walk to the village had been. While the trek to the village was threw heavy mud in moist soil, the villagers had seemed to set stones around the ground in what almost constituted a road.

"You know sir, you missed a great opportunity."

"I'll keep it for when we meet actual aliens, not some humans from another world."

The stone house they were brought to wasn't much larger than the others. There was a blue marking on the side, though it wasn't clear if it indicated something special or just an address.

"Jab, jab! Some strangers from the city are here to see you." The villager yelled, pounding on the door.

"I'm back here." A voice from behind the house yelled back. A minute later a man walked around the side of the house, a sickle in hand. "What do you want; I'm in the middle of harvest."

"Are you the leader of this village?" Schmitt asked in confusion.

"Yeah, why?"

Schmitt cleared his throat and straightened himself out. "I'm Doctor Harald Schmitt, leader of the Triangulum Expedition. I figured we're going to be living in the city for a while, so we may as well get to know your people."

"And why would you want to do that?" Jab asked. "If you know of the city's secrets what could we possibly have to offer you?"

"Well one can never have enough food in their stores, and natural resources are something we can always find uses for."

"And what do you have to offer in return?"

"Well, we have medicines that you probably don't, and we know of farming techniques which can easily increase your yields."

Jab seemed to think it over for a few moments.

"I think we can negotiate something mutually beneficial to our peoples."

Schmitt smiled at the comment. "Glad to hear it."

**Medical Bay**

**That night**

Schmitt, Lee and Haida looked over the results of the dissection. It had been disturbing to say the least.

"This thing definitely used to be an Asgard. I could go into detail about what I found but most of it can be summed up with a word: drone." Doctor Haida explained. "This thing had more in common with a worker or warrior ant then it does with a person. This 'Blight' seems to be a hive mind, though weather it uses a single for the species or has some sort of queen as its center remains to be seen."

"So they're like the Wraith?" Lee asked.

"No. With the Wraith, even the lowest drone is capable of thinking independently. For these things I'd be amazed if the drones could understand a painting is anything more than ink on a wall." The doctor showed them an image, which caused Lee to look away with disgust. "With how much of their brain seems to be dedicated to sensory input, I'd suspect these where specifically warriors."

"That's all well and good doctor, but do you have any idea how they knew we were here?" Lee asked.

"I can answer that." Schmitt said, grabbing their attention. "One of the techs found a virus in the city's systems. Seems that whenever someone reactivates something on the ship a subspace signal is sent out to god knows where."

"So we risk attack every time we turn something on?" Lee asked.

"No, it seems to only activate when the whole city is off. So long as we keep the lights on we should be safe. Though it's a moot point since the virus has been erased."

Lee sighed. "Well they know we're here, and it's only a matter of time before they realize their little attack failed, if they haven't already. So what do we do, keep the gate closed and prepare for a potential siege that may never come?"

"I've already ordered Sofia to get an Iris up and running. Once that's happened we're going out there. If they're limited to the gates we have nothing to worry about, and if they are space faring we need to make it so they either don't want to or can't attack us." Schmitt explained. The SGC had learned a lot from the Ancients, first and foremost being proactivity being key to survival. A little known part of the mandate of Earth's space based forces was the elimination of threats, not only those currently in conflict but those which pose a real threat and could either not be negotiated with or could not be trusted to be negotiated with. It was why the odd Goa'uld that was found was destroyed with extreme prejudges. Here, in the interpretation by Schmitt, it meant fighting of these 'Blight' before it bit them in the ass years down the line. It was a calculated risk, but one he was willing to take.

Years later the decision would cause controversy both in the Triangulum galaxy and back on Earth. Though there would always be those who disagreed, the consensus was that the decision was the correct one.


	3. Adribian

Lee looked over the desert wasteland which went off as far and the eye could see. The planet they were on was the third they had visited, the first two being seemingly uninhabited forests while this one seemed to simply be desert.

"What's the eye in the sky got for us?"

Williams shook his head as he worked the small drone which was beyond the horizon. "Nothing but sand as far as I can tell. If there was once life around this gate, it's long gone."

"This would be a lot easier if we had a puddle jumper." One of the other members of the team lamented. "God dame it's too hot on this planet."

"Shut up Carl." Lee barked at the man. While the three where at the base of the stones the gate was on, the final member of the team walked around the sand, taking in the sight. Hank, the final member, wasn't much for words, but was the perceptive type. That perception was what caused him to notice something odd right before his feet. Not saying a word, he walked back up to the other three.

"There's someone here."

"How do you know?" Williams asked, fiddling with the drone controls.

"Tracks, someone tried to cover them and didn't do a good job of it. Whoever they are, they were here when gated in, probably went running once we started to dial."

"Alright, Matthew get the drone back. Carl, prepare the MALP for return to Toris. I want us gone before…" Lee's order was cut off by a dozen figures jumping out of the sand around the gate, weapons pointed towards them. "They try anything."

"Drop your weapons and keep your hands up." One of the figures ordered. The figures were clearly human, but their bodies where hidden from sight under what looked like gas masks and armor that matched the sands around them.

"Would it help if I said 'we come in peace'?"

**Toris**

**Gate room**

"They're late." Sofia's bluntness annoyed Schmitt. He wasn't sure why but it just did. It was to be expected though, she was a technician and a mechanic, always straight to the point.

"I'm well aware of that."

"Then why haven't we sent anyone to check in on them?"

"Because standard operating procedure is to do so once they are six hours late, as it stands they are only two."

"Oh yes, because there's so much to get lost in with all that sand around the gate the Malp showed." Sofia scoffed.

"Fine, dial them up ..." Before he could finish the gate started to activate.

"Incoming wormhole, activating iris." The man on gate duty declared. The connection took some time to form, the Triangulum galaxy using second generation gates similar to the Milky Way as opposed to the third generation ones in Pegasus and in Toris. By the time the connection was established both heavy machine guns where manned and a line of troops had taken position behind the MALPs.

"_I demand to speak to the one in charge." _An unfamiliar voice ordered over the radio. Schmitt grabbed the one at his belt.

"Who is this?"

"_Are you the one in charge?"_

"And just who wants to know?"

"_The man holding your scout force prisoner."_

Schmitt rubbed his face, it was one of THOSE type of first contacts.

"I am Doctor Harald Schmitt of the Terran Triangulum Expedition. We are…"

"_Why have you sent a scouting force to our world?" _The voice interrupted in a demanding tone.

"We are explorers, we were simply seeing if your world had anything or anyone on it, we meant no harm or hostility."

"_A likely story."_

**Adribian Outpost**

**Desert Planet**

"For explorers your men came quite well armed." The commander stated into the radio.

One of his subordinates was looking over one of the weapons the strangers had, the G36 fascinating the man. He tapped the shoulder of another solider in the small room.

"This weapon seems odd, I see nowhere to force the next bullet into its chamber. This may be a fully mechanized weapon. Like a machine." The man whispered, trying to not disturb the commander.

"Like some sort of machine… gun?" The other whispered back. "Well if you're such a smart guy, what do you make of this?"

He took out one of the Zats they had confiscated, the weapon opening and then closing back.

"That couldn't possibly be a weapon, unless…." The man moved away from the G36 and took the Zat, holding it close to his face as he looked it over. "I have to take this down to the range."

"_I'm afraid I can't do that." _Schmitt's voice stated.

"Well that's unfortunate. The Adribian Federation does not take kindly to outsiders trespassing." The commander shut off the radio. As he left for a different part of the bunker he gave his men a warning. "Be careful with those things."

Lee, for his part, took exception to the fact that he and his men were tied up to metal chairs in a room whose only light came from a lone lightbulb at its center.

"How do these people look to you, Williams?"

"Well, this bunker is concrete, so I'd say at least mid-industrial, but their weapons all seem to be bolt action." Williams observed. "It's possible they're weapons are only early industrial, mid to late nineteenth century."

"They wouldn't happen to know how to make a machinegun just by looking at the weapons we have, would they?"

"Not a machinegun sir, but they could figure out a way to make an automatic rifle." Lee let out a sign at the comment.

"Well, at least there's no way they'll figure out the Zats."

The four men straightened up as the door to the room opened, revealing the man who they all assumed was in charge. The room had obviously not been made for prisoners, possibly no room in the base had been dedicated to it from the looks of it.

"So, mister 'Terran', tell me what you're doing on our world and how you got here." The commander ordered.

"We're on a five year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." Williams replied. It took some effort on the part of the other three not to snicker.

"Yet all of you are soldiers." The commander stated flatly.

"Well the universe is a dangerous place, you never know who you're going to meet." Williams stated back. "After all, you could be ambushed on a seemingly lifeless planet by soldiers you've never met."

"Williams, let me do the talking." Lee ordered. "Look buddy, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but we've made friends with people who we had worst contact with. You people probably know more about this galaxy then we do, we could help each other fight the Blight and…"

"Fight the Blight?!" The commander asked in shock. "Are you insane? One does not fight them, one hides from those beasts. Fighting is futile, do you not see what they did to our world?"

"This is your homeworld? But there's nothing but sand as far as the eye can see." Carl reminded them.

"It wasn't always like that, two hundred years ago this was the vibrant capital of the great Adribian Federation." The commander informed them.

"You're telling us they turned your capital into sand?" Lee asked.

"No, they turned our whole world to sand. They viewed our world as a threat, so they boiled our oceans and turned out fertile lands to sand in great vessels from the sky."

"How have you survived so far?" Hank asked.

"This world wasn't our only one, our ancestors where ones who lived in the colonies. We are but the honor guard on the grave of a billion lost souls." There was a long silence at the commander's comment.

"So why are you telling us this if you're holding us prisoner?" Lee asked, breaking the silence.

"You aren't the first to come through the gate. Over the centuries others have, claiming either exploration or trade. Some claimed they could help us fight the Blight and protect our few colonies." The commander took out a digital watch his men had confiscated from one of the team. "You people seem like you could actually do it."

"So why are we still here?"

"I'm waiting for command to inform me what to do. I may be in charge of this base but my hands are tied for what I can do." The commander walked to the door. Before he left, he made one last comment. "We aren't bad people, we just have too many who fear outsiders."

**Toris Gate Room**

**Two Hours Later**

Simons looked over the gate room. His men were getting ready a few levels below, preparing for a rescue mission to save SGT-1. Despite his protest, he had not been allowed on the mission due to him needing to remain, being one of the few possessing an ancient gene he could not be risked on such a mission.

"You're acting a lot more stressed then I thought soldiers should." Sofia remarked from her console.

"What makes you think I'm stressed?"

"The fact you've been passing for the past half hour. For god sake, they haven't even left yet."

"It's because they haven't left that I'm worried, what could they be doing to them right now?" Simons asked. "For all we know they could be torturing them for information, or using some brainwashing technology to control them or…"

"Incoming wormhole." Sofia declared, closing the iris just as soon as she had made the statement. The soldiers on gate duty quickly moved into position, the two machine guns man and the MALPs used as cover long before the gate made its connection. "Receiving SGT-1 IDC."

"They may have just figured out how to handle them, keep the door closed." Simons ordered. He took his radio from his belt. "Simons to Schmitt, we've got an inbound wormhole and the team's IDC."

"_Roger, I'll be there ASAP."_

"_Hey, why isn't the garage door open?" _Lee's voice asked over a different channel.

"Because we don't know if it's you or someone else with the keys." Simons replied.

"_Well it's us, now open the door our hosts don't seem the most patient people in the galaxy."_

Sofia didn't wait for the order, deactivating the iris. Simons would have ordered it done anyway, but made a mental note to reminder her about how orders worked at a better time.

Down at the gate Matthew and Hank walked through.

"Don't shoot, they aren't hostile." Matthew stated as two more people who were not members of the expedition walked through the gate behind them.

"Where's the rest of the team?" Simons asked from the second floor of the room.

"They're staying back there for now." Matthew answered, annoyed that the guns were still being pointed at him.

"I am Commander Yantok of the Adribian Federal Guard, I demand to speak with someone in charge." One of the two guests stated.

"That would be me." Schmitt announced as he entered the gate room. "Doctor Schmitt, Terran Triangulum Expedition, where are my other two men?"

"Back on my world, where they will remain until I order otherwise." Yantok answered. He took his right arm and held it to his chest, fist in a ball. Assuming it was a greeting, Schmitt mimicked the movement.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't send you and your comrade to our brig and negotiate a prisoner exchange?" Schmitt asked.

"Because you would lose out on a potential ally in the war with the Blight." Yantok answered. "My government believes the time may be right to end our isolationism and to make a few… allies."

"You mean you saw your tech and want it for yourself." Sofia called out from the second floor. She was no diplomat.

"In less diplomatic terms, yes. However we do have things to offer, there must be something in trade you have a need of."

Simons, who had walked down to the first floor, moved next to Schmitt.

"Sir, I don't trust this guy." He whispered.

"You think I do?" Schmitt whispered back. "But we should hear him out, we could always use a new trade partner and ally out here." He turned back to the Commander. "Let's talk in my office."

**Schmitt's Office**

**Half an hour later**

Doctor Haida ran into the office with some files on hand. Much to his surprise he found a stranger in an odd uniform along with Schmitt and Simons.

"The files you asked for Doctor." He stated, handing Schmitt the portfolio.

"Thank you Doctor." Schmitt stated in reply. "You may leave."

"Forgive my asking, but you made quite the unusual request, may I know what you'd need the polio vaccine for? It was cured decades ago."

"That'll do Doctor, get back to your work." Schmitt ordered. Not a man to disobey, Haida left.

"You people really have a vaccine for polio? And you're just giving it away?" Yantok asked. "No money, no resources, no knowledge, just, the vaccine, as a gift?"

"That's correct." Schmitt replied.

"What's your angle?" Yantok asked with suspicion.

Schmitt snickered. "You aren't very good at diplomacy are you?"

"My people haven't had a need for it since the cataclysm, it wiped out the others just as it did our ancestors."

"Well think of it as traded for good will on the part of your people." Schmitt replied. Over the next hour, the three men spoke about how the potential alliance could form. Eventually Yantok and his subordinate left to their outpost, the two remaining members of SGT-1 returning as well. The moment the exchange was done Schmitt's smile faded.

"Lee, Simons, spend the next few ours making a Christmas list. Hank, go tell Doctor Haida to do the same. We're calling home and calling for backup. We're turning this city into a fortress, the Blight have ships and we need to prepare for a possible siege. If it gets down to it I want us to be able to take this city and move it somewhere else. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." The two soldiers said, Hank running off to the medical bay.

"Good."

Later that day the SGC would be surprised by a split second connection to Toris. Once they realized who had called they were not surprised by the fact they had received a data burst. What did surprise them was that said data burst was not a package of data and letters home, but was instead files on a new hostile species coupled with quite a large request for material and personnel. The request included but was far from limited to a laser radar system, hyperspace monitoring nodes, a dozen disassembled 302s, material and crew for said 302s, half a dozen puddle jumpers, two thousand mass production drones, dozens of SAM missile batteries, three thousand infantry, five thousand civilians of all manor, and a laundry list of equipment.

The worst part of the request was the clear message that it would not be the last such request. The Tau'ri-Blight War had begun.


End file.
